Quote:
Originally Posted by strombad
What's the point of jail if rehabilitation is not the goal?
A rabid dog is a rabid dog, a human being is able to learn, rehabilitate, and fix whatever "rabid" qualities they may have.
Killing is fully ingrained in society. Man acceptably kills animals (for sustenance and leisure), man also acceptably kills other men (in the name of "protection"), so what makes those men different than a murderer? A crossed wire. It's a fine line between right and wrong killing. The difference between man and dog, is that the line can be uncrossed.
Criminals deserve time in jail, but the crime and the factors that went into committing it should always be weighed. Never just say "he killed, throw him away forever" because you're not learning anything, you're not helping anyone. Him spending his life in jail doesn't bring anyone back, but if you can fix him, you've lost 2 lives instead of 3.
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That line can't always be uncrossed. To suggest otherwise is very naive. Often, the difference between justified killing and murder is the sense of enjoyment that one derives from the act. For those who enjoy snuffing the life out of someone, I don't believe that there is any coming back, and while there are those who can feign remorse and appear contrite for their actions, consider that these are morally absent people who feel justified in senseless murder. Crafting a veneer that appears rehabilitated and "normal" is something that they excel at.
Now, I suppose you will suggest that experts are able to see through such a mask of sanity and weed out the unreformed, but understand that this is not always the case. In fact, if you were to look at the profile of every serial killer throughout the last 50 years, you would likely see that at some point in their early history, before they committed their murders, they were evaluated by these so called experts and deemed to no-longer be a threat.
Sometimes, the point of jail is to prevent the loss of 2 lives becoming significantly more. Sometimes, people are straight evil.